Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 24, 1993 Page: 9 of 24
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IN OUR 47TH YEARI-DALLAS, THURSDA Y, JUNE 24, 1993, TEXAS JEWISH POST 9
Nuns Still at Auschwitz Convent
But Must Move Out by End of Month
By Ruth E. Gruber
OSWIECIM, Poland
(JTA)—The nine Carmelite
nuns remaining in their con-
troversial convent just out-
side the former Nazi death
camp of Auschwitz must
move out by the end of this
month, local Catholic offi-
cials have said.
Five nuns have already left
the old building and moved
into the new $2.5 million
convent complex nearby,
which also includes an inter-
religious study center.
“The other sisters have
until the end of June to leave
the old theater," said Father
Marek Glownia, director of
the new complex.
“I think that maybe some
of them will go to the new
convent, but others will
choose to go somewhere
else," he said.
Sources at the new com-
plex said funds are running
v^ry short and appealed to
the Roman Catholic Church
in Western countries to help
finance the operation.
They also said it was not
clear what will happen to the
former convent once the nuns
leave.
“It was crumbling when
the nuns moved in, and they
totally fixed it up," one source
said.
During World War II, the
Nazis used the old theater
building to store Zyklon-B
poison gas, used to gas to
death Auschwitz inmates.
The new convent opened
May 24, when the local
bishop celebrated the first
mass there and blessed the
new building.
Glownia said the nuns who
already moved were settling
into their new quarters.
“They are already begin-
ning to work in the garden, to
plant flowers," he said, add-
ing that virtually all interior
construction and furnishing
of the building had been fin-
ished.
The first outsiders to visit
the complex were Sir
Sigmund Sternberg of Lon-
don, chairman of the Execu-
tive of the International
Council of Christians and
Jews, and his wife. The two
were taken by Glownia to
meet with Sister Maria, who
is in charge of the new con-
vent, at the end of May.
Sternberg presented Sister
Maria with a medal com-
memorating the 50th anni-
versary of the Warsaw Ghetto
Uprising.
Meanwhile, however,
sources at the complex said
it was increasingly difficult
to finance operations, which
besides the convent, include
the study center.
The center plans to host
conferences, stage exhibi-
tions, house a library of books
relating to the Holocaust and
inter-religious dialogue and
provide accommodation and
meals for visitors.
It was set up, along with
the convent, as the result of
the Feb. 22,1987, agreement
in Geneva between Jewish
and Catholic representatives
stipulating that the nuns
would leave the old convent.
The Jewish delegation was
led by French lawyer Theo
Klein, then president of the
European Jewish Congress.
Economic troubles, in
large part linked to Poland’s
overall economic difficulties,
slowed construction of the
complex throughout
A statement issued earlier
this spring spoke of “para-
lyzing financial difficulties"
hampering final completion
of the convent building as
well as construction of a
planned hostel for pilgrims.
But one source now said
the center has difficulty even
meeting the payroll for its
30-member staff, who each
earn an average of $150 to
$200 per month.
Operating expenses for the
study center alone run to
about $5,000 a month.
“That’s without the convent,"
said a staff member. “If we
include that, forget it."
The main financing for
construction of the convent
complex came from the
Catholic Church in France.
“We receive $6,000 from
the Carmelites in the United
States, but otherwise, noth-
ing from the U.S.," said a
source.
“Why doesn’t the church
in the West help?" the source
asked. “When is the Western
world going to open its eyes?
I sometimes feel as if the
Western church has aban-
doned us.
UU the sisters could give
up everything and move to
the new convent for the sake
of dialogue, why can't the
Western church contribute
donations? Why not, for ex-
ample. earmark the collec-
I lions from one Sunday to go
to the Auschwitz center?" the
source asked.
Dallas Doings
continued from p. 6
Amy She in berg, daughter of
Israel and Betty Sue
Sheinberg who received a
Ph.D. degree in psychology
from UT Southwestern
Graduate School of Biomedi-
cal Sciences in Dallas on June
5. Amy attended the
Hockaday School in Dallas
and Dickinson College in
Carlisle, Penn., majoring in
psychology. She plans a ca-
reer in clinical work with
adults, adolescents and chil-
dren.
Southwestern Graduate
School of Biomedical Sci-
ences is part of The Univer-
sity of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center at Dallas,
which is ranked among the
nation’s top academic medi-
cal centers for its education,
research and patient care.
• • • •
Shara Beth Pytowski,
daughter of Joyce and Fred
Pytowski, will celebrate her
Bat Mitzvah at Temple
Exnanu-El, Saturday, June
'26, at 10:30 ajn. Sabbath
Services. An eighth grade
student at ParkhilJ Junior
*High, Shan is the grand-
daughter of Sam and Esther
Szor of Dallas and the late
Jacob and Fela Pytowski of
New York. She is the sister
of Lesli a student at the Uni-
versity of Arizona in Tucson
and David, a junior at JJ.
Pearce High School. Shara’s
interests include dancing,
reading and listening to mu-
sic.
Festivities honoring Shara
will start on Friday evening
at a Shabbat dinner hosted
by Minna and Mitchell
Goldminz and Dr. Sid and
Vicki Bernstein at Carrelli’s.
Grandparents Sam and
Esther Szor will honor their
granddaughter at the Kiddush
luncheon on Saturday and
that evening Shara will again
be honored by her parents at
i dinner dance at the Harvey
t
Hotel in Addison. Cousin
Inna Freudenreich will en-
tertain at the Sunday morn-
ing brunch at the Doubletree.
Good friends Cherie Swartz,
Cara Houston and Ava
Gottlieb arranged the unique
decorations. Guests from
New York, Houston and
Canada, will join in celebrat-
ing the simeha.
MM
Festivities honoring David
Rosenhouse, who will be-
come a Bar Mitzvah this Sat-
urday morning at Shearith
Israel, will start on Thursday
evening when his aunt loan
Byers and cousins, J
and Michael Piocui
tain at a Texas Bar-B-Q at
the Byers home. Following
early Shabbat Services on
Friday evening at Shearith
Israel. Grandpa Jerome and
Bubba Hazel Byers will be
hosts at a Feast at Red Pep-
■ DALLAS DOINGS p. i«
jess jawin
continued from p. 1
This, of course, is a commentary to knowledge
which has made the public prints. People are losing
their insurance at the rate of 100,000 per month.
We wondered how Washington’s senators and
representatives felt about the chance for enactment
of a viable insurance program which would cut out
waste, guarantee doctors and hospitals fair pay-
ments, and be able to keep costs from escalating in
arithmetic proportions
We spoke last week in Washington D C. to Rep.
Henry Waxman(D.-CA). Wax man did not believe the
health-care bill was going to go through Congress on
an express train. In fact he believes it is a very serious
proposal that will take time. We gained the feeling
that we'd be lucky to get a health care reform proposal
passed this year although the Administra-tion's leakers
say that a bill will be out by Labor Day following the
summer recess
Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D.-OH) also thought it
was going to take some time. He noted it was a very
serious problem
Although, Health Care will be the next burning issue
on the political oven, there is not immediate agree-
ment that it will ride through the storms of protest and
objections this year. If it is carried over into 1994, which
is an election year for one third of the Senate and all of
the House, it can be submerged for another year.
Several Democrats as well as Republicans have
said in the past, that we would be lucky* to get a bill in
force by January 1995.
We do not hold to this opinion. With the proper
work—and Hillary Clinton s Health Care Task Force
has been working for nearly six months—we should be
able to achieve a well-rounded, full comprehensive
ooverage bill before Labor Day if we put our minds and
hearts to it and if the public expresses their wishes
The Health Task Force is getting suggestions and
advice from a multitude of health care workers, provid-
ers and other professionals. Flying up to D C., a lady
sitting along side of us was studying a gigantic book—
about six inches thick. When we had time to break for
affable conversation, we asked her what the huge
notebook represented. "I’m on the way to a three day
session with Hillary Clinton s Task Force. I’m a regis-
tered nurse interested in post-op care. We're having a
meeting with our group and then several of us were
invited to sit in a dialogue with Hillary Clinton’s Task
Force.
To push for health-care reform most Americans will
have to combat the usual political delays which are
built into the system or sometimes are promoted by
lobbyists.
Senator Harris Wofford. (D.-PA.) who is a strong
advocate of a health care program providing univer-
sal coverage said in a Washington Post June 18 op.
ed. that “delay ignores the hardships that the health
care crisis is imposing on American families and
companies... Health care is a defining issue of our
time not because of an election but because Ameri-
cans are seeing their costs increase and their health
care benefits shrink. Because of health care costs,
companies aren't hiring new workers. Retirees are
seeing their promised benefits become broken
promises...for all those reasons and more delay is
unacceptable*
Wofford adds: “With citizen frustration over political
gridlock at an all-time high, no one will gain from
turning health care into a partisan football. There are
Republicans in Congress who care deeply about
health reform and whose views are not very far from
where the president seems headed. We need to
reach out, as Hillary Clinton has been doing, to build
the broadest possible coalition for action.”
To which we say: "Amen."
Adding: We can do it if we try!
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 24, 1993, newspaper, June 24, 1993; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754104/m1/9/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .